Written By: Delaney Cordes, Staff Writer
NEW BEGINNING – Poly gains a new version of football as girls’ flag football takes its turn in high school athletic sports.
Known for his role as the Mayor of Riverside from 2012-2020, Rusty Bailey, after returning to teaching, has taken up the part of head coach for the new Girls’ Flag Football Team at Poly High School after the inspiration of the 2022 Powder Puff Game. Joined alongside Coach Bailey, is Assistant Coach Lindsay Mingee, who also coaches the Girls’ Lacrosse team at Poly High School. Having only had two weeks to prepare before the first big game, the rush was on to get the players ready and equipped for the season, but these girls were in it to win it.
Coach Bailey is excited that the girls “have options and are able to play different sports like this.” Having been one of the first three soccer coaches and first flag football coach at Poly, Bailey is very honored and eager to see his leadership skills transfer onto the field and into the girls playing. The two coaches are very passionate about helping “a great group of girls that come together towards the common purpose to learn, grow, and have fun.” Balancing the teaching and training helps keep both coaches in check and allows a difference in coaching styles and solving problems when they arise. Also assisting the team to be “students first, athletes second” drives the players to put their all in at school, to then be able to give their all at practice and games. Using enrichment and available resources helps the players to keep their A-game in the classroom and on the field. Working on themselves, teamwork, respect for not only each other, but their opponents, and discipline are the main motives that the coaches account towards to drive the girls into their practice and work for flag football.
After their first two games, against San Gorgonio High School, they had a victorious win of 27-26, and ending the second game with a tie of 6-6 resulted in a win during overtime of 12-6.
With games happening almost every Saturday and Tuesday, Poly is rooting for the new sport and players. With the uprising of flag football and the possibility of it being a sport in the 2028 Summer Olympics, “it would be an incredible moment to be able to see some of these athletes go into different sports like this,” Coach Bailey noted. With new sports being added to the Olympics every four years, women’s flag football could be one of them. Colleges and universities are next on the list for attracting larger interest to the sport but would give players the opportunity to continue if they wanted to outside of their high school career. Though the Olympics are still in the talk, the California Interscholastic Federation, more known as CIF, has adopted the new sport and is recognizing it in high school athletics. With Girls’ Flag Football to ring in the 2023-24 school year, it will be exciting to see how the athletes exceed and excel through this sport and how far they make it. Come out and support these athletic Lady Bears as they forge a new path in Bear Country.